Animal Aid

Save the Windermere Geese

There are reports that the Lake District National Park Authority plans to kill 200 of the 1000 Canada geese who reside at Lake Windermere. The birds are blamed for ‘polluting’ the lake and causing ‘environmental damage’ as they graze. Animal Aid will fight this cull and has started a correspondence with the Authority.

Please help us by emailing the Authority to tell them that the planned cull is unethical, unnecessary and must be stopped.

Make Quorn Vegan

Last year, Quorn produced a vegan burger for its US market. The company is considering introducing vegan products to its UK range, but wants to know that there is a demand for them. Please contact Quorn and let them know that you’d like to see them veganise all or part of their range.

Write to:
Consumer Care
Marlow Foods Ltd
Station Road
Stokesley
North Yorkshire
TS9 7AB

Telephone: 0845 602 9000

Save the Brown Hares! EDM 2531

Adrian Sanders MP has tabled an EDM calling for a close season on the shooting of brown hares on behalf of the Hare Preservation Trust (HPT). While Animal Aid and the HPT both want to see an end to the shooting of all hares, a close season would spare the lives of countless leverets who currently starve if their parents are killed. At the moment there is no close season and hunters can kill hares throughout the breeding season.

Please contact your MP and ask him/her to sign EDM 2531.

Protest the sale of fur

A supporter has contacted Animal Aid after discovering jackets with real fur trim being sold in a new True Religion store in Covent Garden. The brand’s website confirms that they use raccoon fur. Please politely contact the store and urge them to stop selling all items that use real fur:

True Religion
27 James Street
Covent Garden
London WC2E 8PA

Telephone: 0207 836 5098

Protest the sale of foie gras

Two hotel restaurants on the Isle of Wight offer foie gras on their menus, despite widespread condemnation of the cruelty behind foie gras, and a ban on its production in the UK. To produce foie gras, ducks and geese are painfully force-fed through a long metal pipe until their livers swell up to ten times their normal size. Please politely contact both hotels and request that they stop selling this cruel product.

Lakeside Park Hotel
High Street
Wootton Bridge
Isle of Wight PO33 4LJ

Telephone: 01983 882266
Fax: 01983 883380
Email Lakeside Park Hotel

The Hambrough Hotel
Hambrough Road
Ventnor
Isle of Wight PO38 1SQ

Telephone: 01983 856333

Stop Fortnum & Mason from selling foie gras

Fortnum & Mason continues to sell foie gras, a product made from force-feeding geese and ducks until their livers become swollen and diseased. This practice is so cruel that it is banned in the UK.

Please contact the store's Managing Director to ask that she removes foie gras from Fortnum & Mason.

Beverly Aspinall
Managing Director
Fortnum & Mason
181 Piccadilly
London W1A 1ER

Ban glue traps

An e-petition has been set up calling for an outright ban on the sale and use of glue traps in the UK. Glue traps are one of the cruellest methods of rodent control. Mice, rats, and other animals who get stuck on a glue trap suffer horrendous pain, often for days as the trap is not designed to kill them quickly. As trapped mice and rats struggle to free themselves they may pull out their own hair - exposing bare, raw skin, break bones, and chew off their own legs.

Help stop rabbit shooting

A sports club in the village of Jevington, East Sussex is shooting and setting ferrets upon rabbits in the recreation ground because the animals are making holes in the cricket green. A local person has reported hearing the screams of the rabbits being hunted by ferrets. Please contact the Clerk at Willingdon and Jevington Parish Council, which owns the land, asking for the Council to put an end to this cruel practice.

Please write to:
Clerk
Mr Andrew Beams
3 Gorringe Valley Road
Willingdon BN20 9SX

Close down Rye ostrich farm

A concerned Animal Aid supporter recently contacted us after seeing an ostrich farm on the edge of an industrial estate in Rye. The birds are being kept in small paddocks behind metal fence panels, and a sign on the roadside advertises ostrich meat for sale.

Please politely contact the farm to express your disgust at the selling of ostrich meat:

Willow Farm
Harbour Road
Rye
East Sussex
TN31 6SA

Please also contact the local council and urge them to withdraw their permission for the farm:

Rye Town Council
Town Hall
Market Street
Rye
East Sussex
TN31 7LA

Telephone: 01797 223902

You might also like to write a letter to the local paper, to raise awareness among residents in Rye:

Rye & Battle Observer
Woods House
Telford Road
St Leonards-on-Sea
East Sussex TN38 9LZ

Call on the Labour Party to reject bloodsports

A petition calling on the Labour Party to drop its support of the shooting industry has been posted online. Despite the Labour Party’s stance opposing fox hunting, several Labour ministers have, over the years, attended pro-shooting events.

Most recently, the Shadow Minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Gavin Shuker MP, was a speaker at a Labour Conference fringe event, organised by the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC). Mr Shuker is reported to have said: ‘We must protect our rural economy and help to promote awareness of the benefits that shooting and fishing bring to it.’

When asked about his participation at the meeting, Mr Shuker stated that to end dialogue with such (pro-shooting) groups: ‘would be detrimental to efforts to preserve and enhance the rural landscape’.

Worryingly, the Minster was also supportive of snaring – a practice which cruelly kills millions of indigenous animals each year, just to ‘protect’ shooting industry interests. He stated: ‘During the last Labour government, the Party introduced the Defra code on snaring to ensure that pest control was conducted humanely. By law, snares are not "nooses" and must be free-running. Any snare designed to throttle an animal is illegal.’

It is important that the main opposition party is seen to maintain its stance against the killing of animals for sport and to understand that the shooting of birds is just as cruel and unacceptable as fox hunting. Some 50 million pheasants and partridges are reared each year but ‘just’ eight million are sold for food – proof enough that the shooting of millions of birds is carried out for the pleasure of killing them and not as method of food production.

Please ask your MP, no matter which party he or she represents, to support a ban on the production of birds for sport shooting.

Support the right to be vegetarian and vegan in France!

A new law in France will make it compulsory for all school meals, both in the public and private sector, to include animal-based protein - either from meat, fish, dairy products or eggs. Similar decrees are in preparation for almost all catering services in France, including nursery schools, colleges, hospitals, prisons and care homes. These standards are meant to guarantee the nutritional balance of the meals, but will make it impossible for anyone in these establishments to be vegan. Please sign the petition below to show the French government that you do not support this decision.

End sheep racing

Church Farm in King’s Lynn is hosting sheep races, which are not only cruel but encourage people to see animals as objects of fun, rather than sentient beings. Sheep are very susceptible to stress, and the noise and crowds likely to be present at such an event would certainly be stressful for them. In addition, sheep are naturally herd animals, and so to separate them and force them to run against each other would also go against their instincts.

Please contact Church Farm and urge them to stop their sheep racing events:

Elizabeth Esse
Church Farm
Stow Bardolph
King’s Lynn
Norfolk
PE34 3HT

Telephone: 01366 382162

Oppose the breeding of beagles for vivisection

Earlier this year, B&K Universal - a company that breeds beagles for vivisection - had its planning application to build larger breeding facilities turned down after huge public outcry. However, the company has appealed the decision and is still seeking to expand. The appeal will now be considered by Communities Secretary Eric Pickles, who is expected to come to a decision within weeks.

Please write to Mr Pickles and politely urge him to reject B&K Universal’s controversial appeal:

The Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP
Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA

Protest the use of real fur

The Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade has found out that Nauticalia Ltd is selling ornamental cats made from rabbit fur. The company claims that the fur comes from rabbits killed in China. The rabbits may be raised specifically for their fur, or primarily for meat, but they are likely to be kept in barren cages, and denied the freedom to perform natural behaviours such as jump, run or dig. Death is usually by neck-breaking or the throat being slit.

For more information about the campaign please visit: CAFT’s website

Please contact Nauticalia to politely express your disgust at the company selling fur products:

Nauticalia Ltd
The Ferry Point
Ferry Lane
Shepperton-on-Thames
Middlesex TW17 9LQ

Telephone: 01932 244396

Support the campaign against Harlan laboratories

In July, the National Anti-Vivisection Alliance released a shocking report about Harlan laboratories, a company that breeds beagles for vivisection. It is based on the testimony of a former employee who worked inside the beagle units, and reveals horrific details about the treatment of the dogs, such as senior employees kicking and punching beagles during training sessions in correct animal handling techniques. It is also reported that staff would write swear words on the dogs with marker pens, or shave pictures into their fur.

The Sunday Times ran an article about the findings, and there have been public calls for the breeding facility to shut.

Read about a 1999 BUAV investigation into Harlan.

Ban Live Exports

Despite opposition from local councillors and residents, live animals continue to be exported from Ramsgate for slaughter abroad. Currently, the law makes it illegal to refuse a ship the use of a port if it is carrying out lawful trade. Please sign the e-petition asking for this law to be reformed, and for an eight hour limit to be put on animal transport:

Make the sale and distribution of 'Crush' videos illegal in the UK

‘Crush’ videos generally feature small live animals, such as kittens, puppies, mice and rabbits being slowly tortured and crushed by women in high heels. The UK has, in the past, prosecuted individuals under the laws against basic obscenity for creating this type of material. However, this does not appear to apply to the distribution, sale and purchase of such films.

Both the US and the Philippines are already acting to ban them.

Stop the cruel treatment of elephants in Burma

Recently, details have emerged of the horrific ‘training’ of baby elephants in Burma. Wild elephants are typically tied up and beaten for 3 days straight, without food. The goal is to break the elephant’s spirit. They are then illegally smuggled into Thailand to be used in the tourism industry. Please contact the Burmese and Thai Embassies, and ask that they put a stop to this cruelty.

Royal Thai Embassy
29-30 Queen’s Gate
London SW7 5JB
0207 589 2944 ext 5500

Myanmar Embassy
19A Charles Street
London W1J 5DX
0207 629 6966

Stop animals being given away on Freecycle

It has been brought to our attention that some people use Freecycle to offer animals to anyone who wants them, without conducting home checks or determining whether the person knows how to care for the animal in question. Please contact Freecycle and ask that they stop allowing animals to be given away in this manner:

Save Monkeys and Beagles

Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute in America has announced plans to kill up to 300 monkeys and an unknown number of beagles due to financial issues. Animal protection organisations in America, including In Defense of Animals, have been asking the laboratory to allow them to rehome the animals to primate sanctuaries and loving homes, but so far they have refused.

Please contact the following officials from the Research Institute, and urge them to work with In Defense of Animals to save the lives of these animals:

Robert W Rubin, President and CEO

Richard C McGivney, Chief Financial Officer

Cheryl D DiCarlo, Director Comparative Medicine / Attending Vet

Stop the Orient Express selling foie gras

The Orient Express is offering foie gras on its menu, despite widespread condemnation of the cruelty behind foie gras, and a ban on its production in the UK. To produce foie gras, ducks and geese are painfully force-fed through a long metal pipe until their livers swell up to ten times their normal size. Please politely contact the Orient Express and request that it stops selling this cruel product.

Orient Express Services Ltd
20 Upper Ground
London
SE1 9PF

Telephone: 020 7921 4000

Honda sponsoring shooting

Honda has agreed a partnership and sponsorship deal with BASC, the UK's largest shooting organisation. Please politely contact Honda to express your disappointment that they are sponsoring an organisation that promotes the suffering and killing of animals for sport:

Honda (UK)
470 London Road
Slough
Berkshire SL3 8QY

Telephone: 0845 200 8000

Forestry Commission Shoots Baby Boars

Baby wild boars and their mothers are being shot by the Forestry Commission in a bid to keep numbers down, despite a contraceptive vaccine having already proved 'successful' in the Forest of Dean population.

Boars have long been persecuted for digging up pristine lawns and eating wild bluebells. These shy animals were reintroduced to the UK – to be farmed and killed for their meat – after hunters killed all the wild-living boars. Some escaped from the farms and are now finally living a natural, free life. In 2008, a study found that giving the boar contraceptives worked, indicating that populations could be controlled harmlessly if it was deemed necessary. However, the study was extended and Defra has declined to give any information about when the contraceptives may be used. One local expert has suggested that some oppose the use of contraceptives because it would mean the animals' meat could not be sold. Of course, if the populations were controlled this way, there should be no excuse to kill the boars and there would be no meat to sell.

While we wait for a meaningful answer from Defra and the Forestry Commission, the killing of newborn piglets continues.

Action

Please contact Defra and the Forestry Commission and urge them to immediately suspend all boar culling and implement a contraceptive programme as soon as is practicable.

Stop the selling of exotic meat

The Sausage Tree pub in High Wycombe is serving 'exotic' meat, from animals including kangaroos, crocodiles and zebras. Please politely contact the pub to complain:

The Sausage Tree Pub
Saffron Road
High Wycombe
Buckinghamshire
HP13 6AB

Telephone: 01494 452204

Stop SeeWoo selling live lobsters

We have been informed that the oriental food wholesaler and retailer SeeWoo is selling live lobsters and crabs in their stores. Scientific evidence indicates that these animals do feel pain, and such treatment is likely to cause distress and suffering. Please contact SeeWoo and ask them not to sell any live animals:

SeeWoo Foods Ltd
SeeWoo House
Waxlow Road
Park Royal
London NW10 7NU

Telephone: 0845 076 8888

Brown hares shot, maimed and abused for 'fun'

In February, two wildlife monitors witnessed horrific scenes at a brown hare shoot in Norfolk, and managed to capture the event on film. Frightened hares were repeatedly shot at, wounded and killed for 'sport'. In a particularly horrific episode, one hare was shot and wounded but not put out of his misery. Instead, minutes after he had been shot, one of the shooters stood on the wounded animal's back legs, picked him up by his ears and casually walked away with him.

The shoot took place at the Raveningham Estate, which is owned by Sir Nicholas Bacon. Sir Nicholas is also the President of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust and a council member of the National Trust. Norfolk Wildlife Trust has issued a statement condemning the killing of brown hares, stating: 'NWT has seen a video taken on the day and is deeply shocked by its contents as is its President who was not present on the day in question. …NWT is in discussion with its President over the circumstances of this incident. Sir Nicholas Bacon has confirmed that he regrets the incident and found the scenes shown in the video to be very distasteful, but maintains that in the specific circumstances of Raveningham Estate where the hare population is abundant, culling is necessary on occasions.'

The shoot is an organised event that takes place at the same time each year. So called 'culling' is an excuse for the wholesale slaughter of wild animals for sport. Please contact the Trust and ask that it puts pressure on Sir Nicholas to ban shooting events from his land.

WARNING: the scenes in the film are very upsetting.

Stop Airlines Transporting Primates for Vivisection

The National Anti-Vivisection Alliance has recently found out that certain charter airlines have flown primates into the UK for use in vivisection. Please politely contact these airlines and ask that they end their involvement with this cruel industry:

Stop Foie Gras Promotion

The Freemasons at Wiswell in Lancashire is including foie gras on a special menu this month, despite widespread condemnation of the cruelty behind foie gras, and a ban on its production in the UK. To produce foie gras, ducks and geese are painfully force-fed through a long metal pipe until their livers swell up to ten times their normal size.

Please politely contact the Freemasons at Wiswell and request that it stops selling this cruel product.

Freemasons at Wiswell
8 Vicarage Fold
Wiswell
Clitheroe
Lancashire BB7 9DF

Telephone: 01254 822218

Please also politely contact the editor of Lancashire Life, Roger Borrell. The magazine featured Freemasons at Wiswell, and the menu with foie gras, in its March edition. Please ask that the magazine does not feature foie gras in future editions:

Roger Borrell
Editor - Lancashire Life
3 Tustin Court
Port Way
Preston PR2 2YQ

Telephone: 01772 329383

Complain about British Heart Foundation advert

The British Heart Foundation have recently launched a fundraising advert focusing on zebrafish, who have the ability to heal their own hearts if they get damaged. The advert states that the zebrafish is 'letting the British Heart Foundation in on the secret of how I do it, so you can do it too' and then asks for donations.

This misleading advert gives the impression that zebrafish are volunteering to be experimented on, which couldn't be further from the truth. It glosses over the fact that animal testing is inherently cruel, and also unreliable, and unlikely to yield information that is relevant to humans.

Please politely contact the British Heart Foundation to complain about this advert:

British Heart Foundation
Greater London House
180 Hampstead Road
London NW1 7AW

Telephone: 020 7554 0000

Stop Air Canada Transporting Monkeys for Vivsection

A whistle-blower at Toronto Airport has revealed that Air Canada is transporting primates destined for use in research. 48 monkeys arrived in Toronto on January 23rd, to be held overnight at the airport before being shipped on to Montreal.

Please politely contact Air Canada, and urge them to end their involvement in the cruel transportation of animals for vivisection.

Email addresses:

Ask Hackney Council to re-home the Clissold Park deer

Please e-mail Hackney Council requesting that it re-homes the nine fallow deer currently at Clissold Park, North London, to a free-to-roam, non-cull area.

Due to the park renovations, the deer are currently penned into an area that is far too small, and which lacks suitable shelter or refuge for these shy animals, whilst building work is taking place in the park all around them. Their predicament has led deer expert Peter Green to conclude that the current enclosure and habitat for the deer is 'grossly unsuitable'.

The deer are not safe. Earlier this year, vandals entered the enclosure. The following day a deer was found with his leg broken in two places and was subsequently destroyed by an RSPCA marksman. Later in August, a dog entered the compound and bit one of the deer. On 1 October, vandals again broke into the compound, set fire to the newly constructed aviary building and set free three deer.

The new enclosure planned for the deer will not meet their needs. Peter Green has said that, at 6,500m2, the new enclosure is too small and means that the deer will be 'confined to a very limited area' compared with most other deer parks, such as Bushey.

In conclusion, he stated: 'It is clear that the deer have suffered recently from excessive disturbance and from dog worrying. Their needs, under Section 9.2 of the 2006 Act, have not been met. The welfare of the deer has not been safeguarded during the current building and reconstruction programme and at the time of my visit on August 27th it was my opinion that they were suffering unnecessarily.'

Please send polite emails to

If you live in Hackney, please also e-mail your local councillor.

Ask Harrods' new owners to adopt fur-free policy

Harrods is the only department store in the UK that still sells real fur items. The Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade (CAFT) and its supporters in London have been successfully campaigning over the past few years to bring this shameful fact to the attention of the public and to the media.

The recent news that Harrods has been bought by Qatar Holding provides an ideal opportunity for compassionate people to contact the new owners before they formally take over the running of the store in January 2011.

Please write polite, informative letters to the Embassy of Qatar in London and to Quatar Holding, voicing your opposition to Harrods' involvement in the cruel fur trade. Please emphasise that the majority of people in the UK are opposed to the use of animals for their fur and that fur farming was outlawed in Britain in 2001. A move to a fur-free policy at Harrods would prove extremely popular amongst the store's customers.

Qatar Embassy in London
FAO: His Excellency Sheikh. Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani Prime Minister of Qatar.
1 South Audley Street, London W1K 1NB.
Tel: (+44-20) 7493 2200
Fax: (+44-207) 4932819, 4932661
Email it@qatarembassy.info, london@mofa.gov.qa

Qatar Holding
FAO His Excellency Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah
Chairman
Qatar Intermediate Industries Holding Company Limited
P.O. Box 28882 Doha, Qatar
Email info@qh.com.qa, qh@qh.com.qa

Complain about the selling of exotic meat

A new 'exotic meat' shop has just opened in Thanet, Kent, selling meat from animals including kangaroos, zebras and crocodiles. Please politely contact the shop to complain:

Wild Sun
1 Sowell Street
Broadstairs
Kent CT10 2AT

Telephone: 01843 860042

Tell Costa to drop monkey advert

Costa Coffee have been heavily criticised for their use of captive primates in a recent TV advert. Please politely contact Costa and ask that they withdraw the advert:

Guest Relations
Whitbread Group plc
Oakley House
Oakley Road
Luton
Beds LU4 9QH

Telephone: 08701 977 337

You can also write to the advertising agency behind the adverts and politely ask them not to use animals in future adverts:

Karmarama
31 Vernon Street
London W14 0RN

Telephone: 020 7612 1777

Email them via their website

Stop Fish Exploitation

Many people have contacted us after seeing 'fish pedicures' being offered in their local shopping centres. The fish are kept in small tanks, which people then put their feet into to have the 'pedicures'. Please politely contact the following shopping centres to complain about this exploitation of fish:

Email Bentalls Shopping Centre

Queensmere Observatory Shopping Centre
Management Suite
Gallery Level
High Street
Slough SL1 1LN

Telephone: 01753 537 654

Email Queensmere shopping centre

The Lion Yard Shopping Centre
Central Management Suite
St Tibbs Row
Cambridge CB2 3ET

Telephone: 01223 350608

Email Lion Yard shopping centre

West Orchards Coventry
Smithford Way
Coventry, CV1 1QX
Tel: 024 7623 1133

Email West Orchards shopping centre

Holistic Fields
2-2A High Street Passage
Ely
Cambs CB7 4NB
Telephone: 01353 666380

Essential Chiropractic
100 Newton Road
Torquay
Devon TQ2 7AD
Telephone: 01803 612591

Soft Soles Foot Spa
151A Armada Way
Plymouth
Devon PL1 1HY
Telephone: 01752 228437

Funky Fish Spa
64-66 Ebrington Street
Plymouth
Devon PL4 9AQ
Telephone: 0845 4631240

Tiddlers and Toes
Harlequins Shopping Centre
Paul Street
Exeter EX4 3TT
Telephone: 07411 844413

Nibbles Natures Wonder
Crossways Centre
Hyde Road
Paignton TQ4 5BL

Some branches of Superdrug are also offering this 'service':

Superdrug
Customer Services
118 Beddington Lane
Croydon
Surrey CR0 4TB
Telephone: 0800 096 1055
Email Superdrug

Please also keep an eye out for this in your local shopping centre.

Please ask Groupon and Crowdity to stop promoting 'fish pedicures' in their offers

Groupon, No1 Liverpool Street, London, EC2M 7QD
Telephone: 020 3510 0410
Email support@groupon.co.uk

Crowdity, New Penderel House, 8th Floor, 283-288 High Holborn, London WC1V 7HP
Telephone: 0207 400 9290
Email oi@crowdity.com

Stop Amores restaurant from selling veal

The Amores restaurant in Beeston has an extensive veal menu, despite the cruelty involved in its production. Veal calves are fed largely on a liquid diet, which predisposes them to anaemia. They are slaughtered before they reach six months of age.

Please politely contact the restaurant and request that it stops serving this cruel product:

Amores Ristorante
137 Station Road
Beeston
Nottingham NG9 2AZ

Telephone: 0115 922 4224

Puppy Exploitation

We have been told that 'The Big Sheep' tourist attraction in Devon is using puppies as props in photographs. They claim that each puppy only has to pose for five pictures before taking a rest, but they were seen being used in far more pictures than that. The puppies are then sold to whoever wants them. Please contact The Big Sheep and ask that they stop this exploitation of puppies.

Write to:
The Big Sheep
Abbotsham
Bideford
North Devon
EX39 5AP

Telephone: 01237 472366

Urge Cardiff University to stop experimenting on animals

We recently reported that animal experiments at Cardiff University have risen by 13 per cent since 2006. In 2009, the University used 46 cats in research, more than a quarter of all the cats used in research facilities in the UK during that period. Animal Aid has previously exposed Cardiff University in its 2006 'Mad Science' awards, for conducting particularly pointless and grotesque research on rats.

A petition has been set up urging Cardiff University to stop experimenting on animals, and instead adopt humane methods of research.

Stop the Balmoral Hotel selling foie gras

The Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh is offering foie gras on its menu, despite widespread condemnation of the cruelty behind foie gras, and a ban on its production in the UK. To produce foie gras, ducks and geese are painfully force-fed through a long metal pipe until their livers swell up to ten times their normal size. Please politely contact the Balmoral Hotel and request that it stops selling this cruel product.

The Balmoral
1 Princes Street
Edinburgh
EH2 2EQ

Telephone: 0131 556 2414

Save Cheltenham Gulls

Cheltenham Borough Council is considering shooting gulls in an effort to control their numbers, following complaints about the amount of noise they make, even though, as autumn approaches, noise levels will naturally diminish anyway. Culls do not work, and in a matter of weeks bird numbers can return to pre-cull figures. And, of course, culling is never humane.

Please politely contact the council and urge them to use a humane method instead:

Cheltenham Borough Council
Municipal Offices
Promenade
Cheltenham
Gloucestershire GL50 9SA

Telephone: 01242 262626

Help Captive Fish

We have been informed that John Lewis has aquaria full of large and small fish in the make-up departments of its Oxford Street and Bluewater stores - perhaps also others. The ornamental fish industry is motivated by profit. Fish are mass-produced and transported around the world, leading to associated welfare problems and disease risks. Fish are expected to conform to a stipulated colour and quality, and those who don't 'make the grade' are killed. Besides, keeping them in aquaria, when they belong in the oceans, is immoral.

Please contact John Lewis and ask them not to support this exploitative industry:

Noel Saunders
Managing Director
John Lewis
300 Oxford Street
London W1A 1EX

Karen Lord
Managing Director
John Lewis Bluewater
Greenhithe
Kent DA9 9SA

Ask Your MP to Back Early Day Motion for Race Horses

Every season the clock ticks down to death and destruction for thousands of race horses. Hundreds are shot in the head or lethally injected on racecourses or during training, due to catastrophic injury. Thousands more who lack the ability to race meet the same fate.

Portsmouth South Lib Dem MP, Mike Hancock, has tabled an important Early Day Motion (EDM) calling on the government to undertake a full audit of racehorse production, death and injury, and to make its findings public.

He has also urged the government to curb the industry's over-breeding of Thoroughbreds, and to publish the names and details of all race horse fatalities. Animal Aid already collates details of race horse deaths on Race Horse Death Watch but we recognise that not all injuries and fatalities come to our attention. This is why it is vital for the government to put pressure on the industry to release this data.

Please ask your MP to sign EDM 177.

View the wording of the EDM If you or your MP require further information, please download our brand new booklet, The Trouble with Horse Racing. Visit the Race Horse Death Watch website

Stop the Hillbark Hotel selling foie gras

The Hillbark Hotel in Wirral is serving foie gras on its menu, despite widespread condemnation of the cruelty behind foie gras, and a ban on its production in the UK. To produce foie gras, ducks and geese are painfully force-fed through a long metal pipe until their livers swell up to ten times their normal size. Please politely contact the Hillbark Hotel and request that it stops selling this cruel product.

Write to:
Hillbark Hotel
Royden Park
Frankby
Wirral CH48 1NP

Telephone: 0151 625 2400

Complain about rabbit fur toys

We have been informed that Aldi have started selling toy mice for cats made with real rabbit fur. Please contact the company to complain about this, and urge them to use only synthetic fur in their products.

Write to:
Aldi Stores
Holly Lane
Atherstone
Warwickshire CV9 2SQ

Telephone: 0844 406 8800

Protect the Snowdonia Goats

Wild goats in Snowdonia are still being culled due to concerns that they are causing ecological damage. Such culls are not only cruel, but also ineffective as population numbers often soon return to pre-cull figures. Please politely contact the Snowdonia National Trust and Snowdonia National Park Authority to complain about this continued cull, and ask them to consider humane alternatives:

National Trust
Trinity Square
Llandudno
Conwy LL30 2DE
Tel: 01492 860123

Snowdonia National Park Authority
National Park Offices
Penrhyndeudraeth
Gwynedd LL48 6LF
Tel: 01766 770274

Stop Tesco Animal Cruelty

In addition to selling live turtles in China, Tesco has now started selling foie gras in its stores in Hungary. The production of this so-called delicacy is banned in the UK because of the cruelty involved. Ducks and geese are force-fed through a long metal pipe until their diseased livers swell up to ten times their normal size. Many birds die during this painful process.

Please contact Tesco to politely complain and ask that it stops selling foie gras in all of its stores:
Sir Terry Leahy
CEO Tesco
Tesco House
PO Box 44
Delamare Road
Cheshunt
Herts
EN8 9SL

Freephone: 0845 600441

Shame on the Danes

We have had many emails recently expressing disgust at the annual slaughter of thousands of innocent pilot whales in the Danish Faeroe Islands. Entire pods are driven into shore where they are brutally killed. This senseless murder of beautiful, intelligent creatures is inexcusable and must be stopped. Please complain.